Link association analysis systems and methods

ABSTRACT

Link association analysis systems are presented. Disclosed systems are configured to analyze links created by users and to determine possible reasons underpinning why a user would create such a link. The system derives such reasons by analyzing the context within which the link was created and to which the link points, and then presents the reasons as a data object to users for feedback. The system can be made to be self-refining by collecting survey data regarding its accuracy, so that the more users interact with the system, the more accurate the system is at deriving reasons for link creation.

This application is a continuation of pending application Ser. No.14/770,075, entitled, “LINK ASSOCIATION ANALYSIS SYSTEMS AND METHODS”,filed Aug. 24, 2015 as the U.S. national stage of PCT applicationPCT/US2014/016994, filed Feb. 18, 2014, and claims the benefit ofpriority to U.S. provisional application 61/768,989 filed Feb. 25, 2013.These and all other referenced extrinsic materials are incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention relates to systems that construct and manageobjects that represent reasons in the creation of links.

BACKGROUND

The following background discussion includes information that may beuseful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admissionthat any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant tothe presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically orimplicitly referenced is prior art.

Understanding the rationale behind choices that are made by anindividual provides deep insight into the individual's interactions withan environment. The information gained from an individual's reasoningcan be used to learn, predict, or correct the choices made by anindividual. Such information can be a powerful tool in many areas, suchas social media, education, or advertising.

One example of obtaining a rationale for a choice made by a user can befound in U.S. Pat. No. 8,195,592 to Heidenreich. Heidenreich teaches asystem that allows a user to create links between thinking componentsand to provide an explanation of the relationship between the thinkingcomponents. A second user could then analyze this link and explanation,and then could provide a second explanation that refines and developsthe first user's thinking process. However, Heidenreich fails to provideinformation regarding why either user created the linked associations inthe first place.

PCT Pub. No. 2012/088720 to Zheng teaches a system that generates socialrecommendations by linking users to one another based upon the onlinebehavior of its users. While Zheng's system may link users who share thesame mindset, Zheng's system also fails to provide any informationregarding why any of the users would create similar linked associations.

Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0137201 to White teaches a system that predicts whatkinds of links a user might click upon when web browsing. White analyzesa user's historical web patterns and then predicts how that user willbrowse a web in the future based upon that user's past behavior. Likethe other known art, White fails to provide any information regardingwhy the user would create each link.

Overall, each of the examples listed above fail to recognize the valuein exploring the full scope of the rationale in choices made by users.Rather, the examples merely disclose setting up associations orpredicting a possible link of interest. An improved system would offerinsight into the rationale behind why people make linked associations inthe first place in order to resolve possibly ambiguous meaningsunderpinning the links.

Thus, there is still a need for a system that derives and maintainsreasons why users create links.

All publications herein are incorporated by reference to the same extentas if each individual publication or patent application werespecifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference isinconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein,the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definitionof that term in the reference does not apply.

The following description includes information that may be useful inunderstanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any ofthe information provided herein is prior art or relevant to thepresently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically orimplicitly referenced is prior art.

In some embodiments, the numbers expressing quantities of ingredients,properties such as concentration, reaction conditions, and so forth,used to describe and claim certain embodiments of the invention are tobe understood as being modified in some instances by the term “about.”Accordingly, in some embodiments, the numerical parameters set forth inthe written description and attached claims are approximations that canvary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by aparticular embodiment. In some embodiments, the numerical parametersshould be construed in light of the number of reported significantdigits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques. Notwithstandingthat the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scopeof some embodiments of the invention are approximations, the numericalvalues set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely aspracticable. The numerical values presented in some embodiments of theinvention may contain certain errors necessarily resulting from thestandard deviation found in their respective testing measurements.

As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow,the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” includes plural reference unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the descriptionherein, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the contextclearly dictates otherwise.

The recitation of ranges of values herein is merely intended to serve asa shorthand method of referring individually to each separate valuefalling within the range. Unless otherwise indicated herein, eachindividual value is incorporated into the specification as if it wereindividually recited herein. All methods described herein can beperformed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein orotherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and allexamples, or exemplary language (e.g. “such as”) provided with respectto certain embodiments herein is intended merely to better illuminatethe invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of theinvention otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should beconstrued as indicating any non-claimed element essential to thepractice of the invention.

Groupings of alternative elements or embodiments of the inventiondisclosed herein are not to be construed as limitations. Each groupmember can be referred to and claimed individually or in any combinationwith other members of the group or other elements found herein. One ormore members of a group can be included in, or deleted from, a group forreasons of convenience and/or patentability. When any such inclusion ordeletion occurs, the specification is herein deemed to contain the groupas modified thus fulfilling the written description of all Markushgroups used in the appended claims.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventive subject matter provides apparatus, systems and methods inwhich a link association analysis system generates an association reasonobject based upon the context of a linked object.

A link object includes a data structure stored on a computer media andthat comprises a pointer to a linked content, a web page perhaps, and alink creator identifier that identifies the creator of the link.Exemplary pointers include uniform resource locators (URLs), networkaddresses, email addresses, phone numbers, bookmarks, networkingcontacts, an application program interface (API), windows shortcuts,short cuts, UNIX symbolic links, or other types of machineunderstandable addresses. The pointer can be generated by a user of thesystem or a user, or the system could automatically generate the pointerbased upon provided content. For example, the system could track auser's actions for referencing content in a specific manner, such thatwhen the user references content via a “cut-and-paste” set of actions,the system can generate a link object pointing to that linked contentand identifying the user as the link creator. The link object istypically stored within a link database, which could be a memoryaccessible to the association analysis system and that is configured tostore one or more link objects.

Exemplary content includes off-line content (i.e., content that islocally stored, possibly in on a data store of the computer system) oron-line content (i.e., content accessible by the computer system over anetwork). The content could have one or more kinds of data of interestto a user, such as text data, audio data, video data, image data,kinesthetic data, metadata, location data, time data, ambient data,real-time data, biometric data, or other types of content.

A link analysis engine can analyze one or more aspects of the linkobject in order to determine the link object's context; that is thecircumstances of how the link object is used. The context can be derivedfrom various attributes related to the environment in which the linkobject exists, possibly including the location (e.g., social media page,blog post, product reviews, etc.) where the pointer is displayed orembedded, rendered, or otherwise presented; the content to which thepointer points; attributes of the pointer; attributes of the linkcreator; the method used to present the link object; or attributes ofthe link content itself. An exemplary context relates to the location ofwhere the pointer (or link) is presented (i.e. a website containing alink to a URL where the content is located) and the linked contentitself. For example, the linked content could be presented in the formof a post to a bulletin board, forum, or other type ofnetwork-accessible database. Exemplary posts include video posts, forumposts, comment posts, articles, social networking posts, commentingthreads, reviews, or other types on-line posts. The context could haveon-line or off-line content or could be derived from on-line or off-linecontent. Attributes of the link creator could be accessible via a linkcreator profile detailing attributes of the link creator, which may ormay not be associated with the link object.

Once the link analysis engine analyzes aspects of the link object todiscern the context of the linked object, the link analysis engine caninstantiate an association reason object. The association reason objectis a data object that represents at least one reason the link creatormade the association between the referenced content and the locationwhere the link is displayed. An exemplary association reason objectcould represent a mapping of the context to a conceptual reason orontology. Such a conceptual reason can be normalized across one or moreconcept maps to allow a user of the system to track a reason pattern forthe link owner, groups of individuals, common owners of a plurality oflink objects, or other portions of a population. Conceptual reasons canclassified into one or more reason classification schemes, such as ahumor class, a technical class, an educational class, a religion class,a political class, a referral class or even a NULL class. NULL classescan be used for reason objects that cannot be classified into one of theknown reason classes or as a template, which could then be passed onto auser or a separate system for generation of a new reason class. Reasonclasses could be further divided into sub-classes; possibly according toan ontological hierarchy, for example a reason in a humor class could besub-divided into types of humor (e.g., sarcasm, situation,observation-based, absurd, etc.) or a reason in a political class couldbe sub-divided into political affiliations (e.g., Republican, Democrat,Libertarian, etc.).

A user interface is typically installed on a computer system to allow auser to gain access to the link association analysis system, which mayor may not reside upon the same computer system as the user interface(e.g., workstation, web server, etc.). Exemplary computer systems thatpresent the user interface include mobile phones, tablets, televisions,set top boxes, appliances, kiosks, media player, game consoles,augmented reality rigs (e.g., phones, cameras, glasses, etc.) orvehicles. The user interface is preferably functionally coupled to thelink analysis engine in some way (e.g., HTTP, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, etc.),and could be configured to allow a user to interact with the linkassociation analysis system in a variety of ways. For example, the userinterface could be configured to allow a user to define an interactionwith the association reason object, define a new class, re-define aclass of a known conceptual reason, input ontology, input a concept map,or select a link object for analysis by the engine, or otherwise manageassociation reason objects.

In an exemplary embodiment, the user interface interacts with, or is apart of a social networking site, such as Facebook™, LinkedIn™,Match.com™, Angieslist™, or other social media portal. In someembodiments, the user's interaction with the user interface defines theinteraction with the association reason object through an action withthe social networking site, such as subscribing to a creator of content,notifying an entity of content, performing a transaction, conveying asentiment, or posting content to the social networking site. Forexample, if a user of a social media website such as Facebook™ conveys asentiment (e.g., like, dislike, neutral feelings, etc.) of a linkedcontent created by a “friend” on the social networking site, the userinterface could then use that conveyed sentiment to define theinteraction with the association reason object. Such sentiments couldconvey any preference for a variety of attributes associated with thelinked content, for example a preference for the link creator or apreference associated with the association reason object.

The user interface could also be configured to present the associationreason object to another program or to another user in a variety ofmanners. The user interface could further be configured to allow thelink analysis engine to generate an association reason object based uponone or more questions posed to a user. For example, a survey could bepresented which asks each user why that user believes a link was createdhaving one or more attributes of the link object. In other embodiments,the link analysis engine could be configured to generate an associationreason object by searching for reason object templates as a function ofattributes associated with the context and/or the linked content. Suchreason object templates could be gleaned from a variety of differenttypes of sources, such as other social media sites, forums, newsarticles, or other database structures. The link analysis engine couldeven populate a reason object template based upon a link creatorprofile, the context, the linked content, attributes of any of theaforementioned, or a combination of the aforementioned.

Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the inventivesubject matter will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanyingdrawing figures in which like numerals represent like components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a schematic of an exemplary link association analysis system.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary user interface that shows a link analyzed by alink association analysis system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates possible steps that could be used by link associationanalysis system of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Throughout the following discussion, numerous references will be maderegarding servers, services, interfaces, engines, modules, clients,peers, portals, platforms, or other systems formed from computingdevices. It should be appreciated that the use of such terms is deemedto represent one or more computing devices having at least one processor(e.g., ASIC, FPGA, DSP, x86, ARM, ColdFire, GPU, multi-core processors,etc.) configured to execute software instructions stored on a computerreadable tangible, non-transitory medium (e.g., hard drive, solid statedrive, RAM, flash, ROM, etc.). For example, a server can include one ormore computers operating as a web server, database server, or other typeof computer server in a manner to fulfill described roles,responsibilities, or functions. One should further appreciate thedisclosed computer-based algorithms, processes, methods, or other typesof instruction sets can be embodied as a computer program productcomprising a non-transitory, tangible computer readable media (e.g.,hard drive, computer memory, CD, DVD, etc.) storing the instructionsthat cause a processor to execute the disclosed steps that fulfill thedisclosed roles or responsibilities. The various servers, systems,databases, or interfaces can exchange data using standardized protocolsor algorithms, possibly based on HTTP, HTTPS, AES, public-private keyexchanges, web service APIs, known financial transaction protocols, orother electronic information exchanging methods. Data exchanges can beconducted over a packet-switched network, the Internet, LAN, WAN, VPN,or other type of packet switched network.

One should appreciate that the disclosed techniques provide manyadvantageous technical effects including controlling computing devicebehaviors based on association reason objects. The association reasonobjects can cause the computing devices to take one or more actions,possibly including selectively rendering content, providing statistics,engaging in on-line purchases, or other interactions.

The following discussion provides many example embodiments of theinventive subject matter. Although each embodiment represents a singlecombination of inventive elements, the inventive subject matter isconsidered to include all possible combinations of the disclosedelements. Thus if one embodiment comprises elements A, B, and C, and asecond embodiment comprises elements B and D, then the inventive subjectmatter is also considered to include other remaining combinations of A,B, C, or D, even if not explicitly disclosed.

As used herein, and unless the context dictates otherwise, the term“coupled to” is intended to include both direct coupling (in which twoelements that are coupled to each other contact each other) and indirectcoupling (in which at least one additional element is located betweenthe two elements). Therefore, the terms “coupled to” and “coupled with”are used synonymously. In the context of networked devices, the terms“coupled to” and “coupled with” and used euphemistically to mean“communicatively coupled with” where two or more computing devices areable to exchange data with each other over network links, possibly viaone or more intermediary devices.

In FIG. 1, illustrates exemplary link association analysis system 100.As illustrated, link association analysis system 100 comprises a linkdatabase 110 and a link analysis engine 130. Link database 110 isconfigured or programmed to store one or more link objects 120representing links among various content. In some embodiments, system100 can also include one or more of reason database 170. Link analysisengine 130 has roles or responsibilities directed to deriving one ormore reasons underpinning why a user created a link to content 150.

As an example, consider a scenario where a person is reviewing posts ona forum, perhaps on reddit.com or digg.com via a web browser asrepresented by presentation interface 140. The person might submit apost that links to external content 150 in response to content on theforum in an attempt to be funny or sarcastic. Unfortunately, the otherreaders might not be aware that the link is meant to be sarcastic.Rather, the other readers could take the link as being mean or as beingserious, which could give rise to a “flame war” or excessive “noise” inthe forum. Link analysis engine 130 leverages the information or contextassociated with the link in an attempt to derive a possible underlyingreason that motivated the person to create the link in the first place.The context can include information relating to content 150, contentsurrounding the link (e.g., other forum posts, thread topics, etc.),information associated with the person, reader reactions, or otherparameters. The reason is represented as association reason object 134,possibly presented on another forum reader's browser as depicted byoutput device 160.

Link database 110 is configured to store one or more link objects, suchas link object 120 that contains link creator identifier 122 and apointer 124 to linked content 150. Link database 110 can use an indexingscheme derived from a namespace that could be defined by features orattributes extracted from linked content 150, link creator identifier122, pointer 124, or from the link presentation interface 140. Suchfeatures and attributes could be normalized in accordance with aclassification schema before being stored within link database 110 toaid in streamlining the analysis process. Link creator identifier 122can include data representative of the entity (e.g., human, user,consumer, computer, etc.) that creates the link. Example link creatoridentifiers can include a user name, a user ID (e.g., GUID, UUID, etc.),an email address, a social security number, a digital signature, a hashvalue, or other type of value that represents an entity. Pointer 124represents an address that “points” to or “links” to content 150. Forexample within a web-based context, pointer 124 could include a HTTPhyperlink that links to content 150 located on the Internet. The natureof pointer 124 can also vary depending on the environment in which linkobject 120 exists. Examples of pointer 124 can include URLs, URIs, IPaddress, HTTP links, protocol addresses (e.g., port assignments, etc.),logical block addresses, file names, digital object identifiers, domainnames, memory locations, hash-based addresses (e.g., BitTorrentaddresses, BitCoin addresses, etc.), or other types of addresses. Morepreferred aspects of pointer 124 include encoding pointer 124 incomputer understandable form that allows link analysis engine 130 toaccess content 150 via pointer 124.

It should be appreciated that although link object 120 is presented as adistinct, manageable data object within link database 110, link object120 can take on a broad spectrum of forms. In some embodiments, linkobject 120 can include a record in link database 110 as indexedaccording to a suitable schema where link creator identifier 122 andpointer 124 are fields of the record. In other embodiments, link object120 could also comprise embedded content within a web page. For example,link object 120 could be a review with links embedded within a productweb page served by Amazon®. The review could include a link to externalcontent 150. Link object 120 could also represent embedded content suchas a post on a social media site. In such embodiments, link database 110can be embodied as one or more web servers offering web services throughwhich a link creator can provide links via presentation interface 140.

Link object 120 can also include additional information beyond linkcreator identifier 122 and pointer 124 that offers link analysis engine130 access to context information related to link object 120. Forexample, link object 120 could also include user-provided content,perhaps as a body of a blog post or a product review. Further examplesinclude authentication or authorization information (e.g., passwords,user ID, public keys, etc.) that could enable link analysis engine 130to access content 150 on a remote secured sever. Still further examplesinclude one or more attributes and possibly corresponding values thatdescribe the nature of link object 120. Additional link objectattributes could include time stamps, device position, deviceorientation, device or user location (e.g., GPS coordinates,triangulation coordinates, etc.), biometric information, or other typesof data. Exemplary information that can be contained within link object120, possibly as part of link creator identifier 122, could include thename, age, gender, political affiliation, employment status, or othercharacteristic information of the link creator. Thus, link analysisengine 130 could determine a broad or granulated context 132 dependingupon the data analyzed in relation to link creator identifier 122.

As illustrated, link analysis engine 130 is presented as a separate,distinct computing system from presentation interface 140, output device160, link database 110, and reason database 170. In some embodiments,link analysis engine 130 operates as a service, perhaps as a for-feeservice, that offers its web-base services to other internet-basedservers. In other embodiments, the link analysis engine 130 can beintegrated within other platforms as one or more installable modules.For example, link analysis engine 130 can be integrated as a plug-inwithin a social media site, product review site, or other type ofweb-based site.

Generally, a link creator will create a pointer 124 to linked content150 to be presented upon some sort of link presentation interface 140,within a browser or even an application. Contemplated link presentationinterfaces 140 include social networking sites, internet forums,browsers, bulletin boards, news media outlets, blogs, computer folders,or other known link aggregators. Pointer 124 could be presented in avariety of forms, such as a uniform resource locator (URL), an emailaddress, a network address, a phone number, a bookmark, a networkingcontact, an application program interface (API) or any other type offormat that links to linked content 150. Programs associated with thelink presentation interface 140 may create link object 120 containinginformation about pointer 124, such as a copy of pointer 124, metadataregarding linked content 150, link creator identifier 122, metadataregarding the link creator, metadata regarding how the link creatorgenerated pointer 124, and metadata regarding how the link creatorposted pointer 124 to presentation interface 140.

In other embodiments, link analysis engine 130 could be configured todetect when pointers are created on link presentation interface 140 andcan then generate link object 120 within link database 110 as a functionof information gleaned by link analysis engine 130. For example, linkanalysis engine 130 could detect when a user posts a comment on a socialmedia site where the post includes pointer 124. Such information couldbe gleaned from link presentation interface 140, linked content 150, orany other repository of information, such as a search engine or aprofile database. In some embodiments, the link presentation interface140 might not contain a pointer at all, but may instead contain linkedcontent 150 itself, or may contain a reference to linked content 150, inwhich case link analysis engine 130 could be configured to generate acorresponding pointer 124 automatically. For example, if linkpresentation interface 140 is a blog having an article with a poem, linkanalysis engine 130 could analyze link presentation interface 140,identify the poem, create a link object 120 having a link creatoridentifier 122 that identifies the author of the blog, and create apointer 124 that links to the poem or information about the poem vialink presentation interface 140.

Link analysis engine 130 is configured to analyze link object 120 todetermine its context within the environment in which link object 120finds itself. One aspect of the context could include data thatrepresents how pointer 124 is presented in link presentation interface140 relative to attributes of linked content 150. In contemplatedsystems, the context can be determined using a context determinationmodule 131 within link analysis engine 130. Context determination module131 can collect one or more pieces of data relating to the environmentfrom various sources. For example, context determine module 131 obtaininformation relating to the link creator (e.g., profile information,user name, history, etc.), the content surrounding pointer 124, or evencontent 150 to which pointer 124 points. Of particular interest, contextdetermination module 131 determines context 132 related to the locationwhere pointer 124 is presented the linked content 150. Thus, contextdetermination module 131 can determine a contextual juxtapositionbetween content 150 and the surrounding content where pointer 124 isplaced.

Context 132 can be considered a data object having one or moreattributes relating to the nature of how pointer 124 is presented. Insome embodiments, the attributes of context 132 can include basicattributes having a name and a value. Such attributes and correspondingvalues can be automatically pulled from content 150 or other sources.For example, in a scenario where pointer 124 is presented within a chatwindow of a video game, the context can comprise attributes thatrepresent the location of the presented pointer (e.g., the name of thegame, the current activity within the game, the type of game, the numberof players, a time, etc.) and that represent the nature of content 150(e.g., original source or poster of content 150, the sentimentassociated with content 150, key words or concepts from content 150,etc.). In other embodiments, context 132 can represent a derivedconstruct based on the information available. Context determinationmodule 131 can map information obtained from the various sourcesavailable to one or more context templates. As a more concrete example,context determination module 131 can compile key words from content 150can map the key words to a context template via a look up table, phrasethesaurus, or other technique. The template can then be populated basedon the data available from the sources.

Context 132 can be considered a quantified description of a circumstancerelated to the link. The context could represent one or more of thefollowing: a shopping context, an educational context, a work or officecontext, a travel context, entertainment context, an on-going context,or other types of contexts. Context 132 can reflect one or more types ofcontent; on-line content or off-line content. The context 132 canreflect or even include one or more of the following types of content:text data, audio data, video data, image data, kinesthetic data,metadata, location data, time data, ambient data, or any other sort ofmodality. Still further, local content in presentation interface 140could influence context 132 can comprise a video post, a forum post, acomment post, an article, a social networking post, a comment thread, areview, or other information from the location where the link was postedor made.

Once the link analysis engine 130 has determined context 132 for linkobject 120, link analysis engine 130 can generate an association reasonobject 134 derived from context 132. Thus, the nature of how link object120 is used in relation to its surrounding content and link content 150can be leveraged to estimate an underlying reason for creation of thelink.

One should recognize that the association reason object 134 isconsidered a representation for a reason that an association was made,and as such could have one or more attributes associated with such areason. An association reason object module 133 could be used by linkanalysis engine 130 to generate such an association reason object 134,which is presented to a user via output device 160. Note that outputdevice 160 could also operate as presentation interface 140. In someembodiments, a single context 132 could generate a plurality of valid orpotential association reason objects 134. One or more of the generatedassociation reason objects could be presented to a user via outputdevice 160. Using such an embodiment, a link creator could then revieweach of the possible association reason objects 134 and select a mostpreferred association reason object as the most likely reason that alink creator identified linked object 150. In some embodiments, linkanalysis engine 130 could store previously selected association reasonobjects within link database 110 or a separate association reasondatabase 170 using a normalized indexing schema.

In this way, as a user (or a plurality of users) can search associationreason objects associated with an attribute (such as a link creator, acategory of link creators, or the link itself), the system could“remember” the most common association reason objects associated with alink creator, or a category of link creators, and then the system couldprioritize the most commonly picked association reason object associatedwith the attribute at the top of the list. In some embodiments, thesystem could be configured to automatically select the highest-priorityassociation reason object in the list of association reason objectsgenerated by the context. Thus, the disclose system can be considered togive rise to a ‘reason’ search engine capable of providing searchresults indicative ‘why’ or the intent behind creating links.

In view that context 132 can be representative of the surroundingcontent within presentation interface 140 and link content 150, one canconsider association reason object 134 as content that bridges the twopieces of information together. In some embodiments, context 132 couldbe represented by a matrix of concepts. The dimensions of the matrix canrepresent concepts presented in content 150 and concepts presented inthe surrounding content within presentation interface 140. Each cell ofthe matrix can include one or more rules by which association reasonobject 134 is instantiated, possibly as influence by link creatorprofile information. For example, a cell might be indexed by conceptlabels as “games”, “product”, “politics”, “religion”, “comic strips”,“physics”, or other concepts. Perhaps if the concepts from content 150lean strongly toward “comic strips” and the concepts from thesurrounding content leans toward “politics”, then the matrix celllocated at the intersection of “politics” and “comic strips” wouldinclude rules for generating a humor or sarcastic reason object. Thehistory of the link creator could influence how association reasonobject 134 is instantiated. If other readers have typically rated thecreator as being sarcastic in the past, then reason module 133 caninstantiate associating reason object 134 as a data construct withattributes indicating that the derived underlying reason for creatingthe link was to be humorous with a note of sarcasm.

In contemplated systems, association reason object 134 could comprise amapping to a conceptual reason, such as an ontology or a concept map.For example, the ontology could be used to represent a variety ofreasons (e.g. a humorous response, an mathematical reason, aphilosophical reasons, an emotional reasons, educational reason,motivational reason, a medical or healthcare reasons, a factual reason,etc.) and a concept map could represent concepts in several respectsthat lead to a reason (e.g. a membership to a comedy club causes a linkcreator to create more humorous links, or a threshold number of otherlinks, such as likes on a Facebook™ page, on a famous mathematician'ssite causes a link creator to create more mathematical links).Conceptual reason mapping could be done using a variety of logiclanguages (e.g., Common Logic, F-Logic, and KL-ONE). The conceptualreason could also be presented as a normalized conceptual reason byusing language normalization and abstractions, such as those listed inUS 2002/0128821 to Ehsani, US2008/0154577 to Ehsani, US20090177461 toEhsani, and US2009/0171662 to Huang, each of which are incorporatedherein by reference.

Furthermore, the conceptual reason could comprise a reasonclassification. In contemplated systems, the reason classification couldinclude at least one of the following reason classes: humor, technical,educational, political, referral, or NULL (i.e., no reason wasdetermined). The reason classification could also include sub-classes.For example, a reason class of humor can include the following types ofsub-classes: situational, sarcastic, ironic, or observation-based,absurd, or other subclass. Users could find this level of specificitybeneficial when they feel that a reason class is too broad. It should beappreciated that a reason classification could include several reasonclasses and sub-classes if need be, preferably according to one or morehierarchies. Where a reason class is defined as NULL, in someembodiments, a user could be presented with a user interface whichallows the user to associate the association reason object with anexisting reason class or subclass, or even define a new reason class orsubclass for use in the system.

In some embodiments, the reason classification system can be domainspecific where the reasons map to a specific type of subject matter. Theexamples previously discussed mainly relate to social networking orproduct reviews. However, in embodiments that are directed to morespecific areas association reason object 134 will also take on morespecific values. For example, in the medical domain, the reasonclassification system can include information relating to diagnosis ortreatments for designated ailments. Perhaps a doctor includes a link ina patient's medical record where the link points to content related to aprescribed drug. The associated reason object for the link couldindicate a reason for alleviating a symptom or curing the ailments.Other domains that can leverage reason classification systems includegaming domains, shopping domains, financial domains, travel domains,educational domains, science domains, healthcare domains, art domains,or other types of domains.

In addition to mapping association reason object 134 to a conceptualreason, the link analysis engine 130 can be further configured togenerate the association reason object 134 as a function of a survey ofusers, possibly through use of a mechanical turk infrastructure (e.g.,Amazon® MTurk™). Using this technique, users input an indicationrepresenting a reason that they believe caused the link to be created.In some embodiments, the user can be presented with a ranked list of themost likely reason for a link creator to generate or post link pointer124. The results of the survey could be used as (a) the sole determinantof the association reason object 134 or (b) an influence or a functionof the instantiation of the association reason object 134 possiblyaccording to a weighting function. It should be appreciated that thesurveys can be presented to a portion of the viewership to reducepossible disruption of the enjoyment of the associated content.

In other embodiments, the link analysis engine 130 could utilize one ormore reason object templates stored in reason database 170, whichprovide functions that could either (a) be a sole determinant togenerate association reason object 134 based upon attributes associatedwith context 132, or (b) be an influence to a function of the generationof association reason object 134 based upon attributes associated withcontext 132. In some embodiments, link database 110 could also operateas reason database 170. Further, reason database 170 could beimplemented as an in-memory data store or structure of link analysisengine 130.

Link analysis engine 130 could be configured to enable an output device160 to present association reason object 134 at any suitable time. Thus,association reason object 134 can be viewed by others within theenvironmental context in which link object 120 was created. Exemplaryoutput devices 160 could include at least one of a mobile phone, atablet, a television, a set top box, an appliance, a kiosk, a computerdisplay, and a vehicle. Similarly, the presentation of the associationreason object 134 could vary with respect to the output device 160 orwith respect to a preference by the user of the output device 160. Forexample, association reason object 134 could be presented in visual formupon a computer display (such as a mobile phone), in sound form througha sound system, perhaps a Bluetooth® sound system, or in tactile formupon a tactile display such as a refreshable Braille display.

Output device 160 could also be configured to allow one or more users tointeract with or manage association reason object 134, for exampleanalyzing association reason object 134, modifying association reasonobject 134, or modifying an association reason template used toinstantiate the association reason object 134. Output device 160 andlink presentation interface 140 could be the same user interface,allowing the link creator to not only define a link, but also define theassociation reason object 134 or an attribute of association reasonobject 134. Contemplated link presentation interfaces 140 that allow auser to both create a pointer 124 to linked content 150 and alsointeract directly to modify association reason object 134 include userinterfaces to social networking sites, such as Facebook™, LinkedIn™, orAngie's List™.

In contemplated embodiments, output device 160 could provide a varietyof interactions (or select such interactions from a list) with eitherlink object 120 or with association reason object 134. Exemplaryinteractions include at least one of a subscription action, anotification action, a transaction, and a sentimental action. Asubscription action can be described as an action that allows users toreceive something in a regular basis (e.g., a daily email containing thelinks generated by the link creator based on a humor reasonclassification). A notification action can be an action that alertsusers via a message or sound when a condition is met (e.g., an alarm ona mobile phone if a comment is posted to the link object). A transactioncan an interaction associated with an account related to associationreason object 134. A sentimental action is an action that demonstrates afeeling/opinion on something (e.g., showing a like or dislike for alinked object).

FIG. 2 shows a mock up of a possible user interface 200 through which auser can create or otherwise interact with association reason object234. User interface 200 is illustrated as a browser displaying webpage201 of an exemplary profile for a user of a social networking site. Inthis example, the user, represented by avatar 230 and profile 240, postsa link 214 (e.g., see pointer 124 in FIG. 1) to his or her social medialanding page. Link 214 and its associated content are represented bylink object 220. In this example, the user is the link's creator. Linkobject 220 includes link 214, title 212, comment 218, perhaps acondensed representation of content 250, or other features. Link object220 further includes association reason object 234, which is indicativeof the underlying reason for creating link 214. Based on informationderived from content 250, local information, and possibly profile 240,the link analysis engine has classified association reason object 234 into class 236 (i.e., humor) and into subclass 238 (i.e., sarcasm andpolitical). Of particular note, association reason object 234 caninclude multiple reasons or even multiple subclasses for a single class.

A link association analysis system could then analyze the context withinwhich the link creator created link 214 to create link object 220 havingattributes associated with the link, for example the name of the socialnetworking site, a unique identifier of the link creator, thelink/pointer itself, the title of the link, any comments posted by thelink creator regarding the link, the class of the link, the subclass ofthe link, or any other suitable content. The link creator or a user ofthe social networking site could then assign a sentimental action 216(e.g., like, dislike, thumbs up, tip, etc.) to the link, a commentregarding the link, or the categorical class assigned to the link. Anyof these could be associated with the context, link object, or theassociation reason object by the system. Various other attributes couldbe recorded and utilized by the system to create a context that assiststhe system in determining one or more association reason objects derivedfrom the context.

One should appreciate the dynamic nature of link 214. As presented inFIG. 2, link 214 is illustrated as a traditional hyperlink. However,link 214 could represent a broad spectrum of association types between asource object or a circumstance, and one or more destination objects.Contemplated association types vary by the nature through which link 214is formed. In some embodiments, the link 214 can be formed by the linkcreator through indirect or direct construction of a hyperlink as shownwhere link 214 can be embedded in a source document (e.g., web page) andpoint to an external source document (e.g., another web page, video,image, sound, file, application, purchase, etc.).

Link 214, or even link object 220, can also be formed throughinteractions between the link creator and the environmental objects(e.g., billboards, magazines, toys, television, movies, music cases,parts, vehicles, buildings, etc.). For example, the link creator cancapture a digital representation of the object (e.g., an image, a video,a sound, etc.) and bind or link the digital representation of the objectto additional information or content (e.g., messages, other images,games, purchases, etc.). Thus, one aspect of the inventive subjectmatter can include creating links via object recognition based on one ormore data capture modalities. Example techniques that can be leveragedfor object linking or reorganization and adapted for use with theinventive subject matter includes those described in co-owned U.S. Pat.Nos. 7,016,532; 7,477,780; 7,680,324; 7,565,008; 7,775,437; 8,224,078;8,463,031; and co-owned U.S. patent application publications2012/0250942.

Still further link 214, or link object 220, can be created based onother forms of interactions. In more preferred embodiments, link 214 canbe established based on a transaction between the link creator'scircumstance (i.e., the context) and a target object. Exampletransactions can include conducting a financial transaction with anaccount (e.g., on-line account, bank account, credit card account,mortgage account, etc.), redeeming a coupon, accepting or rejectingoffers or promotions, exchanging healthcare data with a healthcareprovider (e.g., electronic medical records, privacy, prescriptions,etc.), enforcing or engaging security measures (e.g., passwords, keyexchanges, etc.), engaging in point-of-sales activities (e.g., making apayment, near field communication, participating with games or gameobjects (e.g., gambling, video games, computer games, etc.), or otherforms of transactions. Even further, other interactions beyondtransactions can include listing to music, playing games, making calls,watching television, or other types of interactions.

Yet further, link 214 can be established based on one or more conditionswith respect to a context. The context, as discussed previously,represents link object 220 or link creator's relationship with theenvironment. In some embodiments, link 214 is only created, established,or otherwise instantiated when conditions within the context indicatethe system or creator is allowed to create link 214. Thus, a context canbe considered to include one or more sets of linking condition criteriathat are to be satisfied as authentication of the link creator orcreator's device, or authorization to create link 214. Each set oflinking condition criteria can be bound to one or more types of links orassociation types. As example, a first set of linking condition criteriamight be less restrictive and only apply to humor-type associationswhile a second set of linking condition criteria might be morerestriction and only apply to relationship-based emotional-type links.

The linking condition criteria can be defined as a function across abroad landscape of available environment data. Physical location datarepresents an example of environment data that can be used toauthenticate or authorize the link creator to create link 214. Physicallocation data should not be configured with a placement location ofcontent in an interface. Physical location data can be obtained frominternal sensors within the link creator's device (e.g., accelerometers,GPS, camera, Skyhook®, etc.) or from external sensors (e.g., securitycameras, etc.). In some embodiments, location data can derived based onvisual information obtained from a camera sensor. For example, a cellphone can capture video data and use vSLAM, triangulation, or othermapping techniques to determine location of the creator's device. Thelocation data can also be obtained internal to buildings or otherstructures using non-GPS systems. For example, location data can beobtained using satellite-based signals with power penetration capable ofpenetrating buildings, possibly based on Iridium satellites (e.g., 66LEO satellites, Boeing Timing and Location (BTL) services, etc.) withoutrelying on GPS. Thus, the linking condition criteria can be definedbased on location coordinates. When the link creator or the creator'sdevice has a location that satisfies the location-based conditions, thelink creator can be allowed to create link 214. Example location-basedconditions can include geofences, relative positions or locations,movement from one location to another, or other location-basedconditions. Additional examples of environment data that can be used toauthenticate or authorized link creator or the creator's device caninclude time (e.g., absolute, relative, etc.), gestures (e.g., signlanguage, accelerometer data, etc.), images (e.g., sequence of images,video, etc.), biometrics (e.g., facial recognition, iris, retina,fingerprint, heart beat, galvanic response, etc.), radar (see URLphys.org/news/2012-09-radar-technology-housed-thumbtack-sized-chip.html),or other types of environment data. One should further appreciate thatthe linking condition criteria can include a required criterion or anoptional criterion that should be satisfied to authenticate or authorizea link creator to create link 214.

Regardless of the foundational association type for association reasonobject 234 behind link 214, the reasons for association can be derivedfrom the context under which link 214 was created. The reason can berepresented as association reason object 234 comprising class 236 andsubclass 238. One should appreciate that the context can be based on thesource of the external content as represented by a hyperlink or content250 and the destination of the link as represented by webpage 201, aswell as the context of the link creator. Consider a scenario were a linkcreator buys a birthday present for a friend from a product purchasingweb site. The analysis engine recognizes that the link creator is in a“shopping” context based on the creator's activities, possibly with asub-context of “birthday shopping” and perhaps an even further refinedcontext of “birthday shopping for friend”, and observes a purchase ofthe gift. The act of initiating a transaction can cause link object 220,including link 214, to be created within the person's social media page.The analysis engine can observe attributes of the gift (e.g., size,shape, name, brand, etc.) relative to the shopping context andattributes of the friend (e.g., likes, dislikes, preferences, gender,etc.). The analysis engine might infer that the link among the objects(e.g., friend's birthday and creator's purchase of a gift) is that thegift is intended to be a joke gift. In response, the analysis enginecould create an association reason object 234 reflecting that the“purchase” link is a humor reason. Such information can then be storedfor later retrieval for searching or later analysis.

Link 214 can be a uni-directional link or a bi-directional link. Auni-directional link can be considered a pointer (see FIG. 1, pointer124) that points from a source point to a destination point. A hyperlinkor a purchase of a type of product would be considered uni-directionallinks. A bi-directional link can be considered a link that providespointers among multiple objects. For example, a link object 220 thatincludes a pointer from a first object (e.g., web page) to a secondobject (e.g., external content) and a pointer from the second object(e.g., the external content) back to the first object (e.g., the webpage) would be a bi-directional link. Further, link 214 can represent aone-to-one link, a one-to-many link, or even a many-to-many link.

It should be appreciated that each link in the chain can also have acorresponding association reason object 234. In a very real sense, thechain of association reason objects 234 can be considered a flow ofthought or reasoning behind creating such associations. The chains ofassociation reason objects 234 can be analyzed to form mind maps relatedto the creator(s) and among contexts. The mind maps can then be comparedto other creators' mind maps. A mind map can comprise a series of nodes(e.g., the environment where a pointer of link object 220 resides) andan edge connecting the nodes (i.e., link 214). Each node in the map canbe characterized by the context as discussed previously.

One should appreciate that link 214 can also be considered visible ornon-visible. In the example shown, link 214 is visible because it isvisually presented as a hyperlink. Non-visible links can be representedby link objects, but not necessarily presented visually to others. Asmentioned previously, link 214 could represent a purchase of an object.Such a link might not be visually presented, but could be accessed via alink association search engine for analysis.

FIG. 3 illustrates method 300 for interacting with association reasonobjects. It should be understood that method 300 includes one or moresteps executed by one or more computing devices possibly operating as alink analysis engine as described above. The services provided by thelink analysis engine can be offered as a for fee service possibly as aPaaS, IaaS, SaaS, or other type of service.

In step 310, a link analysis engine accesses a link presentationinterface, through one or more different techniques. In someembodiments, the link analysis engine is integrated with a web service(e.g., web site, web server, social networking site, etc.) operating asa link presentation interface. As the web service provides content to auser, the link analysis engine can also monitor the presented content.In other embodiments, the link analysis engine operates as a separateplug-in or even a remote web service where the engine accesses thepresentation interface via one or more HTTP-based protocols. The linkpresentation interface can be considered a website (e.g., socialnetworking site, product review site, blog, video game, etc.) that isalso accessible to one or more users. The users of such sites are ableto leverage the capabilities of the site to create one or more links toexternal content. It should be appreciated that a link analysis engineis able to collect link data from one or more such presentationinterfaces, possibly in real-time. For example, the engine could collectdata on a periodic basis (e.g., daily, hourly, every five minutes, aslinks are created, etc.).

In step 320, the system then analyzes the link presentation interface toacquire a pointer associated with a link. Typically the pointer is ahyperlink within content of the link presentation interface. In anembodiment relating to product reviews, the link might be embedded in aproduct review or comments section of web page relating to a product ofinterest. The link itself might point to an offsite or external content(e.g., an image, text, a video, Wikipedia® article, etc.) and couldcomprise an embedded hyperlink. As discussed previously, the pointer cantake on different forms, which could include Universal Resource Locators(URLs), Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), IP address, file names,memory pointers, or other types of pointers. The acquired pointers aidthe link analysis engine to determine the link context between thecontent referenced by the link and the local content where the pointerexists. It should be appreciated that the pointer can be considered partof a link object as discussed above, which could also be stored in alink database. A link object could include a comment field, a messagepost, a standalone data object, a web page, or other type of dataconstruct that comprises a pointer. In some embodiments, the linkanalysis engine is able to generate the pointer from the informationavailable from the local content. For example, the analysis engine couldsurmise that a review article references a book title where no link isprovided to the book. In response, the engine can automatically generatea pointer to a web page having the corresponding book or even to aWikipedia® page. As another example, consider a scenario where a linkcreator mentions a popular news story from a news aggregator, the linkanalysis engine could use that information to generate a link or pointerto that popular news story by running a simple search on a networksearch engine.

In step 330, the analysis engine analyzes the pointer along with thecontent associated with the pointer to collect information relating tothe environment associated with the created link. For example, theanalysis engine can obtain authentication or authorization informationso that the engine can gain access to the referenced content. Additionalinformation beyond security information can also include a uniqueidentifier of the link creator, an email address of the link creator, anetwork address of the link presentation interface, a phone number ofthe link creator, a type of link presentation interface, text dataassociated with the pointer, audio data associated with the pointer,video data associated with the pointer, image data associated with thepointer, kinesthetic data associated with the pointer, time dataassociated with when the pointer was created, ambient data associatedwith the link presentation interface, etc.

In some embodiments, at step 340, one or more devices optionallygenerate a link object having the information related to the createdlink. In some embodiments, the link analysis engine generates the linkobject as triggered by actions (e.g., placing a post, etc.) of the linkcreator. In other embodiments, the link object could be automatically apriori generated by crawling through digital content looking for links.Although step 340 is illustrated as being sequential between steps 330and 350, it should be appreciated that at least step 340 could beperformed out of the depicted sequence. The link objects preferablycomprise a link creator identifier and a pointer to external contentreferenced by the object. As discussed above, the creator identifier caninclude user names, identification numbers, a machine address, a hashaddress, email addresses, GUIDs, digital signatures, or other types ofidentifiers. The link creator identifier allows the link analysis engineto obtain data associated with the entity that has decided to create thelink. The pointer (e.g., URL, URI, address, digital object identifier,etc.) allows the link analysis engine to observe or access the externalcontent.

In step 350, the link analysis engine leverages the information from thelink object to determine a context in which the pointer of the linkobject exists. In more preferred embodiments, the context is derivedfrom at least the content to which the pointer of the link objectreferences and from the surrounding or local content in which thepointer is presented. Facebook® provides a foundation for an example. AFacebook user might post a comment on a friends profile or landing pagewhere the comment includes an HTTP link to offsite content, perhaps avideo on YouTube®. In this situation, the comment could be considered alink object where the HTTP link represents a pointer and the user'susername represents the link creator identifier.

To continue the example, the link analysis engine can determine thecontext of link by examining the video, comments associated with thevideo on YouTube, or other content available via the HTTP link. Thiscontent can be examined using pattern recognition techniques (e.g.,voice recognition, image recognition, OCR, speech to text analysis, orother digital data processing activities). Each activity can yield oneor more attributes relating to the content that can be combined to formpart of the overall context. For example, the link analysis engine couldanalyze frames of the video using image recognition techniques (e.g.,SIFT, DAISY, etc.) to recognize objects or people. The engine canfurther search for or look up additional information relate to therecognized objects or people. Such information forms a portion of thelink context because it represents the environment of the referencedcontent.

Continuing with the example, the link analysis engine can determineadditional context information from the local content where the linkresides. In this case, the link analysis engine can compile informationlocal to the link (e.g., within the same posting), on the page, or otherlocations related to where the link is placed. The context of the linkcan be thought of as the juxtaposition of the context information fromthe external content and the context information local to where the linkis placed. If the two sets of contexts are similar (e.g., having thesame key words, sentiment, etc.), then the context might indicate aninformation exchange. If the two sets of context information aredissimilar (e.g., non-overlapping key words), then the context mightindicate a non-informational exchange. It should be appreciated that thetwo contexts provide some insight into a reason for the link. However,yet more preferred embodiments leverage link creator information, whichcan color the overall context. Comparing and contrasting the two sets ofcontext information with each other can be weighted by the link creatorinformation.

As a more concrete example, consider an embodiment where contextinformation comprises normalized names according to a context namespacewhere the names of the namespace correspond to concepts (e.g., positivesentiment, negative sentiment, location, time, etc.). The normalizednames associated with the external content and the local link contentcan be indices into a context matrix, a look-up table, or other datastore. The analysis engine can use the normalized concept names toretrieve rules or criteria for generating a reason object. The rules caninclude weighting factors that are influenced by the creator's profileinformation. The creator's age might influence the interpretation of alink reason from being informational to educational for example.

In step 360, the link analysis engine then generates an associationreason object based upon the context. As discussed above, once rules forinstantiating the association reason object have been established, thelink analysis engine instantiates the reason object according to therules. It should be appreciated that the reason object represents adigital data construct that can be independently managed from otherreason objects. The reason information stored within the reason objectcan be populated based on the various sources of information includingthe external content, the context sets, the local content, creatorinformation, historical information, or other factors.

In some embodiments, the context information can be used to retrieve adesirable reason object template from a reason database. Contextinformation might indicate non-overlap between the external content andthe local content. Based on a look up table, the rules for reason objectinstantiation might indicate a requirement for a humor-based reasonobject template. In response, the reason database provides such atemplate to the link analysis engine. The engine can then populate thetemplate with appropriate attributes, possibly including reasonclassification or sub-classification information. In some embodiments,the association reason object can be populated with information based onfeedback from other users. For example, the analysis engine mightidentify a link and then present users with a drop down list of possiblereasons for the link's existence. As more users select reasons, theassociation reason object increases in validity.

In step 370 the link analysis engine then presents the associationreason object to a user. The presentation of the association reasonobject can be as simple as presenting web content proximate to where thelink is placed, where the web content is generated according to theassociation reason object. In other embodiments, a web site such asAmazon could call into an remote procedure call (RPC) or remoteapplication program interface (API) to obtain the instantiated reasonobject. The reason object can be serialized possibly in a XML or JSONformat and transmitted to the web site. The web site can then presentthe association reason object as consumable content to site visitors.

In step 380, one or more computing devices can receive or processinteractions related to the association reason object. It should beappreciate that providing an underlying reason for a link gives rise tonumerous opportunities for interactions. Such interactions could begenerated via one or more interaction templates that dictate whatinteractions a given user could have with designated types of links, orlinks created by designated link creators. The system generallypopulates interaction fields from known object attributes of a link orof objects associated with a link, and hosts the interaction instance ina location accessible by the link analysis engine, such as the engineitself, a computer system that the engine is loaded upon, or a thirdparty server. The system then generally instantiates an instance of aninteraction as a function of attributes of the association reasonobject, and/or as a function of the device upon which the associationreason object is presented. For example, a link association reasonobject presented on a mobile phone might have different availableinteractions than a link association reason object presented on acomputer screen.

Contemplated interactions include modifying an interaction template,modifying an association reason template, subscribing to a link creator,setting an alert for a modification of data associated with the link(such as a new comment about the link, or a change to text displayednext to the link), performing a transaction with the link creator, orsending a sentiment to the link creator regarding the link. Anotherinteraction could include providing monetary tips based on theassociation reason object. For example, a user can be presented with atip interface for a crypto-currency (e.g., BitCoin, LiteCoin, PeerCoin,etc.) that allows for users to submit tips of perceived real-worldvalue. In such embodiments, the association reason object can includeone or more crypto-currency addressed through which a tip can besubmitted to the link creator, the web site, or other entity.

One should appreciate the utility of identification and use of reasonobjects described above. Reason objects can be considered aquantification of link creator's intent. The intent can be describedacross a multi-dimensional intent space. The intent can represent humor,emotion, intent to inform, pattern of play with toys or friends, orother dimensions. In view that the reason objects represent intent or areason through which a link is made, the reason objects can also beconsidered to represent the underlying thought processes of the creator,which can be further analyzed. The inventive subject is furtherconsidered to include mapping reason objects from an individual or apopulation to mental capabilities.

Mental capabilities can include cognitive ability, reasoning ability,emotional abilities, or other mental capabilities. Contemplated systemscan establish a mental capability map based on an aggregate of reasoningobjects where the capability map represents the thought processesthrough which individuals make connections among content. Possibly basedon a statistical compilation, one can establish a normalized capabilitymap across the population. As individuals interact with reasoningobjects (e.g., create them, follow them, search for them, subscribe tothem, etc.), the system can build a personalized mental capability mapfor the individual. The system can then compare the personalized mentalcapability map against the normalized capability map to determinedifferences. The differences could be determined based on filteredinformation; a comparison of only emotional reason objects or creationof reason objects during a single time periods for example.

The differences in capability maps have many advantageous features. Forexample, a normalized mental capability map could represent a standardfor exhibiting emotion. If there are differences between the standardand a person's mental capability map, the differences might be leveragedas a diagnostics tool to identify emotional issues of the person.Similarly, the differences among mental capability maps could be usedfor diagnosing mental illness, identifying changes in metal state overtime of a person, validating a person's improvement mentally orbehaviorally, or other purposes.

The disclosed techniques give rise to many possible interesting uses,all of which are considered part of the inventive subject matter asdiscussed below.

Association reason objects bound a one or more users (e.g.,individually, demographically, etc.) can represent a stream of thoughtor consciousness. Resulting patterns can be used to search forassociated content in aggregate. For example, a compilation of videogamers' association reason objects can be leveraged to identify contentthat might be of interest to other games.

Association reason objects can also be used to initiate purchases forgoods or services based on identifying such products according to aperson's reasoning, emotional movement or shifts, stream ofconsciousness, or other mental activities. Though observing linkcreators or a chain of association reason objects, the link analysisengine can identify which link creators make link associations in asimilar fashion. This allows for ease of identification of goods orservices. Example goods or service that can be purchased through linkassociations include cars, movies, music, tickets, mortgages, toys,sporting equipment or services, magazines, newspapers, clothing, food,buildings, real-estate, medicines, financial services, healthcareservices, games, computing devices, chemicals, paints or coatings,cleaning supplies or services, fuels, veterinary goods or services,animals, hardware, tools or machine parts, software, appliances,vehicles, firearms or ammunition, jewelry, gems, precious metals,musical instruments, paper, leather, construction materials or services,furniture, kitchen ware, yarn or threads, fabrics, fancy goods, floorcovering (e.g., carpet, tile, etc.), beer, wine, beverages, tobaccoproducts, advertising services, insurance services, construction orrepairing services, communications services, transport services,educational or amusement services, scientific services, manufacturingservices, food services, or other types of goods or services. It shouldbe appreciated that the act of initiating a transaction on a computedevice can cause the link analysis engine to generate one or moreassociation reason objects where the transaction is the link.

Association reason objects allow robots, web-bots, or other automateddevices to learn preferences of other's intent or reasons for makingdecisions. For example, a healthcare robot can learn a patient's desiredroutine or a doctor's behaviors, a factory robot can infer exceptions tomanufacturing protocols, a gaming bot can mimic a player, or the robotcan learn other aspects of its environment through observation of thereason for interactions or linking. Thus, the robots or other digitallearning agents can follow reasons of that relate to tasks at hand.

Association reason objects also enable vehicles (e.g., aircraft,spacecraft, trucks, cars, etc.) to aid in offering passengersrecommendations based on a current context (e.g., stop for gas, stop forfood, etc.). As opportunities arise nearby the vehicle, the vehicle canobserve known association reason objects that relate to passengerreasoning as well as contextually relevant to the location, direction,heading, or other vehicular attributes.

Association reason objects can give rise to recommending media (e.g.,art, music, video, books, articles, web pages, movies, etc.) toindividuals based on their mental activates relative to others. Theassociation reason objects from a link creator can be used to generate aquery for content that has been linked for similar reasons. Thus, theinventive subject matter is considered to include determining asimilarity measure among reason objects. Such a measure can be based ona reasoning ontology or hierarchy. The closer two reason objects arewithin the ontology, the more similar they are.

Association reason objects can serve as foundation element or triggerfor advertising events that target individuals based on similarreasoning.

Association reason objects can also serve as a source of information toprovision content, communications, transactions, or other activitiesamong users.

Association reason objects can function as a nexus of communicationsamong relevant parties. For example, an individual can be put in touchwith other individuals having similar thought patterns. Further, anindividual can be connected with servers that provide content thataligns with the individual's thought processes. In this sense, theassociation reason object can be considered a message board orcommunication portal that allows individuals to interact regarding thereason object. In such an embodiment, the association reason object cancomprise additional features such as comment fields, links, or otherfeatures.

Association reason objects can also function as security measures.Should a change in an individual's trend in metal reasoning be detected,then the change in trend might be indication of identity theft or aproblem with the individual's mental state.

Association reason objects can serve as a measure of alignment ofindividuals with respect to a group. Some groups, the Democratic orRepublican Parties for example, wish to have their members' exhibitalignment with their respective platforms. Contemplated system cancompare a member's reasons for generating links as compared to a groupstandard. A measure of the deviation from a collection of reason objectsfrom a “standard” set is also considered part of the inventive subjectmatter.

Association reason objects also operate as an interaction point withinteractive media (e.g., games, videos, audio books, web episodes,etc.). For example, a game engine can obtain reason objects generated bya player. As the game progresses, characters in the game make decisions;the decisions can be based on the player's reasons objects or even otherentity's reasons objects. This allows for aligning a story with thethought processes of a consumer.

Association reason objects can be leveraged in education by illustratingproper reasoning techniques or by triggering lesson plans once a studenthas mastered a lesson.

Association reason objects can enable transactions based on precisemarketing triggered on how an individual thinks or on the individual'smental actions as indicated by a reason object or a chain of reasonobjects. The transactions and marketing can be based the individual'sreasons for interacting with content, or based on the individual'ssocial network. Thus, the triggering of the transactions or marketingcan be triggered on just the individual's reason information oraggregated reason information from a larger population, the individual'ssocial network for example.

It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that many moremodifications besides those already described are possible withoutdeparting from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subjectmatter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the scope of theappended claims. Moreover, in interpreting both the specification andthe claims, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possiblemanner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “comprises”and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements,components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that thereferenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or utilized,or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are notexpressly referenced. Where the specification claims refers to at leastone of something selected from the group consisting of A, B, C . . . andN, the text should be interpreted as requiring only one element from thegroup, not A plus N, or B plus N, etc.

What is claimed is:
 1. A social networking link association analysissystem, comprising: a link database configured to store a link objectthat includes a pointer from a location on a social networking site tolinked content and a link creator identifier that identifies a humanlink creator; and a link analysis engine computing device coupled withthe link database and configured to: determine a context related to atleast one of surrounding content at a location on the social networkingsite where the pointer is presented and the linked content; derive anunderlying reason representing a motivation of the human link creator tocreate a link between the surrounding content and the linked content;instantiate an association reason object derived from the context andthe underlying reason; and configure an output device to present theassociation reason object via a user interface that is part of orinteracts with the social networking site.
 2. The system of claim 1,wherein the context is determined based on at least one of a video post,a forum post, a comment post, an article, a social networking post, acomment thread, a review, information from a location where the linkedcontent is posted or made.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the contextis determined based on at least one other link object associated withthe linked content.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least oneother link object is a posted comment.
 5. The system of claim 1, whereinthe context is determined using one or more image recognitiontechniques.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the context is determinedusing one or more voice recognition techniques.
 7. The system of claim1, wherein the context is derived from a human link creator profileassociated with the link object.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein thehuman link creator profile includes a social networking profile.
 9. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the context includes at least one of thefollowing types of online content: text data, audio data, video data,image data, kinesthetic data, metadata, physical location data, timedata, and ambient data.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the pointercomprises at least one of the following: a uniform resource locator(URL), an email address, a network address, a phone number, a bookmark,a networking contact, and an application program interface (API). 11.The system of claim 1, wherein the pointer is presented within a chatwindow or on a page, blog post, or product review section of the socialnetworking site.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the link analysisengine is further configured to automatically generate the pointer basedon content provided by the human link creator.
 13. The system of claim1, wherein the linked content is offsite with respect to the socialnetworking site.
 14. The system of claim 1, wherein the linked contentis presented in a link presentation interface providing access to one ormore social networking sites, internet forums, browsers, bulletinboards, news media outlets, blogs, computer folders, and linkaggregators.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the link presentationinterface facilitates allowing the human link creator to participate ina same activity as another user.
 16. The system of claim 1, wherein thesurrounding content includes at least one of the following: a videopost, a forum post, a comment post, an article, a social network post, acomment thread, and a review.
 17. The system of claim 1, wherein thelink object comprises a posted comment on a profile or landing page onthe social networking site associated with a user other than the humanlink creator.
 18. The system of claim 1, wherein the link objectcomprises a time stamp associated with the human link creator.
 19. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the link object is bound to a socialnetworking message post.
 20. The system of claim 1, wherein the linkobject is embedded in a webpage and points to an external sourcedocument, including one or more of another webpage, a video, an image, asound, a file, an application, a purchase document.
 21. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the link object is automatically generated when a userposts a comment that includes a pointer on a social networking site. 22.The system of claim 1, wherein the link analysis engine is furtherconfigured to use environment data to authenticate or authorize thehuman link creator or a user device associated with the human linkcreator.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein the environment dataincludes one or more of a time, a gesture, a sequence of images, avideo, biometric data, and radar data.
 24. The system of claim 1,wherein the link analysis engine is further configured to initiate atransaction associated with the human link creator or a marketing actiontargeting the human link creator based on a thought process or mentalaction determined to be indicated by or associated with the associationreason object.
 25. The system of claim 1, wherein the link analysisengine is further configured to generate the association reason objectby searching for reason object templates based on attributes associatedwith the context.
 26. The system of claim 25, wherein the link analysisengine is further configured to populate the reason object templatesbased one at least one of the following: a human link creator profile,the context, the linked content, and the attributes.
 27. The system ofclaim 25, wherein the reason object templates are derived from at leastone of the following: another social networking sites, a forum, a newsarticle, and a database structure.
 28. The system of claim 1, whereinthe link analysis engine is further configured to subscribe the humanlink creator to a content creator based on the association reasonobject.
 29. The system of claim 28, wherein the subscription allows thehuman link creator to receive content on a regular basis from thecontent creator.
 30. The system of claim 1, wherein the link analysisengine is further configured to facilitate one or more or searching,following, or subscribing to an association reason object.
 31. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the association reason object comprises amapping to a conceptual reason.
 32. The system of claim 31, wherein themapping to the conceptual reason is based on one or more other linkobjects associated with the human link creator.
 33. The system of claim31, wherein the conceptual reason comprises at least one of a normalizedconceptual reason and a reason classification.
 34. The system of claim33, wherein the reason classification includes at least one of a humor,technical, educational, political, referral, and NULL reason class. 35.The system of claim 33, wherein the reason classification comprisessub-classes.
 36. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface iscoupled with the link analysis engine and configured to allow a user todefine an interaction with the association reason object.
 37. The systemof claim 36, wherein the interaction comprises at least one of asubscription action, a notification action, a transaction, and asentiment action.
 38. The system of claim 37, wherein the sentimentaction indicates a preference associated with at least one of the humanlink creator and the association reason object.
 39. The system of claim1, wherein the output device comprises at least one of the following: amobile phone, a tablet, a television, a set top box, an appliance, akiosk, and a vehicle.